


Protective Streak

by OmegaSuperHero



Category: Avengers, Captain America, Iron Man - Fandom, Marvel
Genre: Bets, Bucky - Freeform, Gen, Mother Hen, Nostalgia, Stupidity, Surprises, dares, idiocy, jumping, steve - Freeform, stories, super solder serum
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-11
Updated: 2014-06-11
Packaged: 2018-02-04 06:21:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1768825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OmegaSuperHero/pseuds/OmegaSuperHero
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky has returned to his own mind and is rehabilitated with the Avengers. Steve's true personality shines through and it turns out Bucky is still highly protective of his "little buddy"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Protective Streak

Before Bucky was rehabilitated into modern society and live with the Avengers, Steve was.. Well, he was a regular guy outside of the fighting. He did his housework, kept on top of his fitness and spent time with the Avengers, movie nights and whatnot. Everybody thought him to be quite a respectable, well rounded guy. After all, he was Captain America, the very embodiment of being "the good guy" so it surprised them when Steve would regale them with stories from his youth, namely stories of him and Bucky getting into all kinds of trouble back when Steve was tiny. Of course, they all just assumed that it was Bucky who dragged them into trouble constantly, since Steve never really told them otherwise and, secretly, they were all glad that Bucky wasn't around to get Steve into trouble again. So Steve remained well behaved and settled into the 21st Century with ease, working up habit and routine and seeming content with his new life.  
A storm of crap circumstances brought Bucky back into Steve's life, into all of their lives, and things were harrowing for a time. He had been kidnapped and brainwashed by Hydra, with them using him as an empty headed assassin to shape the Century. Hydra was eventually disbanded again and Steve managed to get Bucky back who, with a lot of therapy and medicines, started coming back to them. It took a year until he was all but the same Bucky from before Hydra, which meant a year with no.. Trouble making.  
It wasn't long until after Bucky's recovery that it started, rendering everyone speechless.

"STEVE!" Bucky yelled, charging into the communal living room, spitting mad, "What were you THINKING?!"  
Steve just laughed, lounging on the sofa and grinning sheepishly at his old friend, "It was only a few hundred feet, Buck. I've jumped further since receiving the serum" he reminded him, shaking his head slightly at Bucky's overreaction.  
"You gotta remember that, for me, it's properly only been a few months since you were.. Smaller" he scolded him, voice thick with worry.  
"You really can't be doing these things, Steve, you'll give me a heart attack! No. More. Jumping. Outta. Planes", he demanded loudly just as the others walked in, all of them looking exasperated.  
"We know he's a super solider, Bucky, but you can't have him jumping out of planes like that" Bruce muttered quietly, reprimanding the assassin, "Eventually, he's going to reach his limit. Do you want that to be your fault?" Steve was doubled over and bellowing laughter as Bucky stood, shocked and spluttering at the accusations.  
"I tried to stop him!" he countered, waving his arms in the air, "He's ALWAYS been like this, totally reckless and.. And.. Stupid!" he shouted, glaring daggers at his best friend who couldn't stop laughing at them all.  
Bruce just frowned at Bucky, looking like a disappointed parent, "Bucky, we've lived with him for 3 years now, we KNOW he's not that reckless and stupid. Stop encouraging him, please" and with that, they left again, scattering to go about their own business.  
Bucky seethed at Steve, shoving him further into the couch and pinning him back by his shoulders, "Stop endangering your life" he hissed darkly, "Jump outta one more plane and I'll kill you myself" he promised, stalking out of the room and punching a vase on his way out, leaving Steve spluttering laughter and wiping a tear away.

This carried on for a few months and everybody had quickly come to the conclusion that it really was all Steve's doing. Clint discovered it, surprisingly, they'd never told him not to do something, therefore he used his intelligence and common sense to function. Now, however, he had Bucky back. Bucky who cared too much. Bucky who would listen to his stupid ideas and tell him no, therefore rendering the Captain unable to use his common sense to exit the situation. It only took him a few months to fully realise that the sure fire way to make Steve do the thing was Bucky telling him not to do the thing. He doesn't think Steve even realises he's doing it. Sure, he laughs at Bucky's responses and he knows he's pissing his friend off, but it was obvious he didn't realise he was only doing these things because Bucky didn't want him to. For Steve, it felt totally natural to WANT to do something after Bucky had told him not to.  
Clint decides he needs to have some fun with this, so he explains the situation to the other Avengers and finished off with saying he wants to get Cap to do some stupid stuff. They eventually start up a betting pool amongst themselves when Clint says he's going to get Steve to jump off the roof.  
"Hey, Cap," Clint says. He’s gonna win like, ten thousand off of Stark for this one. "You ever think about jumping off the roof?"  
"Can’t say that I have," says Steve.  
"Really?" Clint asks. "Because I bet you could make it to the next building over."  
"Probably could," says Steve. "But I know what you’re doing. I’m not going to try."  
"Damn right you’re not," Bucky mutters.  
Steve sets down his book. ”You know what?” he says, standing. ”There is only one way to know for sure. Guys, I’m going to jump off the roof.”  
Clint bounces up and down like a puppy, clapping his hands with glee as Tony glowers at him on their way up to the roof.  
Bucky, of course, is grabbing onto Steve's shirt and trying to drag him back inside like a man possessed, "Steven Rogers, you get back inside right now! If you jump off this roof, so help me I'll kill you myself, dammit Steve!"  
Steve rolled his eyes, shrugged Bucky off and ran for the edge of the roof. He jumped without hesitation, a breathtaking grin plastered on his chiseled features as he fell through the air.  
"NOOOOOOO!" Bucky screamed, heartbreak in every breath as he pelted to the edge and looked for him, "STEVE!!" he fell to his knees and vomited when Steve hit the ground. Shoving himself up off the concrete, he stormed inside and took the stairs to the bottom floor, tears streaming down his face when he saw him. The concrete had cracked around his body, he didn't register the lack of blood, just sat sobbing and reaching out, unsure if he could touch his lifele-  
Steve rolled over suddenly, sitting up with a bashful grin on his face and rubbing the back of his head, staring at Clint,  
"Damn, looks like you lose the bet, Clint" he chuckled, giving a tiny cough.  
"You didn't even aim for the next building!" he shot back with a growl, "You just straight up DIVED off the roof, idiot!"  
Bucky was stunned, sitting back on his legs and staring at Steve in disbelief, tears already drying on his cheeks,  
"You.. You're okay?" he whispered, reaching a hand out to his friend who grabbed it with a face splitting grin.  
"Of course! Super serum, remember? I could survive a fall TWICE that height with maybe a broken ankle" he reminded him, baby blues twinkling.  
Bucky stood up slowly, turning on Clint and, with no warning, punched him hard enough that he went through the wall behind him. Natasha crouched, instantly in defense mode in case he went psycho, but he just growled at her and grabbed Steve's collar. He hoisted the solder up and stalked off, dragging his best friend backwards and muttering under his breath, "Fucking roof.. Giving me a heart attack.. Gonna kill him myself.. Stupid bastard.."  
Steve just laughed, stumbling backwards as Bucky hauled him off, grinning and waving his hands at his teammates, "I'll get it next time for sure, Clint! We'll keep trying until I reach that building!" he shouted at the archer, laughing loudly at Bucky's grumblings.

The others just stood and watched the entire exchange in shock. They couldn't believe this was the same Steve they'd lived/worked with for 3 years..  
Natasha could see that he had a complex of sorts, he could extract himself from dumb situations easily enough on his own, but all common sense dove out of the window if he was TOLD not to do something. Which was something Bucky tended to do A LOT. She sighed to herself, they couldn't separate the best friends, they were all the other had left of their own time, which meant that this was going to be happening a lot more often..  
She gave a small smile at Steve's shouts, shaking her head as they got a rather vivid glimpse of what he was like before everything went wrong..


End file.
